Academic Life

Pedagogy

The Academic Program at Magdalen College is rooted in the classical and Christian views of liberal education. The life of Socrates, the philosophy of Plato, and the establishment of the Academy form its historical foundation. With the dictum "the unexamined life is not worth living," Socrates set forth the mission of liberal education—to live life well.

Classes at the College, known as tutorials, are conducted in the Socratic method of open dialogue. Teachers, called tutors, help each student to pursue wisdom and to experience that truth is objective, knowledge is trustworthy, and learning is common to all.

The authors that are read in the four-year Program are the masters of orderly thought, both ancient and modern, in the various fields of knowledge such as philosophy, mathematics, science, language, the social sciences, and catechesis.

The Academic Program aims to awaken in students a desire to live a life of truth, goodness, and beauty by helping them discover their nature as integrated human beings, their place in the world, and their relationship with God.

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